This future animal would be the descendant of modern day meerkats. It has similar features as today’s meerkats, but the meerkats then would have long gone through many changes in evolution to become the Suricata webbedvoeteaap, which means ‘webbed feet monkey’ in Afrikaan.
Suricata webbedvoeteaap with webbed feet
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
order
Carnivora
Family
Herpestidae (mongoose)
Genus
Suricata
species
webbedvoeteaap
Habitat In 150 million years, the world will become a different place, as we know it. Shifting continents and environmental pressures would have changed animals, including meerkats; causing them to go through another phase of evolution in order to survive in the future.
According to Christopher Scotese, Africa would then collide with Europe and Asia, forming one giant landmass. Not only will the world change in geographical measures, global warming would result in even more extreme weather conditions. There will be sweltering hot and glacial cold temperatures in one single area. Many animals will go extinct if they do not adapt in time leaving the food chain disrupted and food sources scarce. Sea levels will be higher than before, some fresh water sources will disappear while some will form due to unpredictable weather changes of the future. By then, Suricata webbedvoeteaap would spread to parts of Europe and Asia and undergo many other adaptations.
The Suricata webbedvoeteaap will continue to live in the dessert environment and also in densely vegetated grasslands of Africa, South Europe and Asia where opportunities to catch prey are plentiful.
Meerkat habitat in 150 million years
Adaptations
Structural 1: Able to swim in water
In the future, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will have longer but lighter and waterproof fur. Suricata webbedvoeteaap will need lighter fur because of the hot temperature but longer fur to keep warm in cold temperatures. Their fur will also be sleeker in order to be waterproof when catching prey in water. Along with waterproof fur, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will have webbed feet that will enable them to swim faster and catch prey. An environmental pressure that has caused this change in meerkats is the extreme range in temperatures in a 150 million years time. They must be accustomed to both hot and cold temperatures and in water. Due to the disruption in the food chain, Suricata webbedvoeteaap must prey on a wider selection of animals in order to survive. Fish and other organisms living in water will become part the Suricata webbedvoeteaaps’ diet, so their fur must be suitable for swimming and drying quickly.
Structural 2: able to see in the dark
Because of the need to prey on much more types of prey, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will need to hunt during the day and night. To do so, they would have acquired a special structural adaptation to be able to see in the dark. Their eyes will be equipped with some sort of night vision that will be required during hunting. As previously mentioned, the food chain will be disrupted so meerkats will have to eat a wider variety of foods. This may lead them to hunt during the night in order to prevent the Suricata webbedvoeteaap group from becoming famished, resulting in death from starvation. Better night vision will enable Suricata webbedvoeteaap to see in the dark and have the opportunity to find food to survive.
Behavioural 1: nomadic
Instead of living in the same area for many generations, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will move across vast areas of land frequently, probably as frequent as every few days. The group will not dig series of burrow systems; instead, they will make nests out of plants that can be found in their habitat or make use of caves. These nests or caves will serve as shelter for the Suricata webbedvoeteaap clan for as long as they are in that area. This sort of behaviour will be somewhat similar to modern day elephants.
What will be the cause for meerkats to move from burrows to nests and caves? The reason will be that in the future, fresh water and food supplies can become unreliable and as mammals, source of fresh water is very important to them. To ensure survival, Suricata webbedvoeteaap must move to wherever there is food and fresh water. Becoming nomadic mammals will increase chances of survival.
Behavioural 2: All beta females allowed to breed
Beta female Suricata webbedvoeteaap are allowed to breed. In comparison to meerkat hierarchy, only the alpha female is allowed to breed. The alpha female will evict any beta female who falls pregnant. This is not so in the case of Suricata webbedvoeteaap because evicted meerkats will have a lower chance of surviving alone in harsh conditions of the future world. Naturally, if beta females are allowed to breed, the group size will increase which will provide higher protection against predators.
Physiological: In the future, fresh water may be hard to come by. There will no annual wet season due to the extreme change in climate in the future. That is why the Suricata webbedvoeteaap excretes waste in some other form of waste. It is similar to modern day reptiles and birds, which excrete in the form of uric acid, which will not cause them to lose as much water. Although, they will need to drink water where possible at some point, this form of physiological adaptation can keep these mammals go longer without water.
Suricata webbedvoeteaap
This future animal would be the descendant of modern day meerkats. It has similar features as today’s meerkats, but the meerkats then would have long gone through many changes in evolution to become the Suricata webbedvoeteaap, which means ‘webbed feet monkey’ in Afrikaan.
Habitat
In 150 million years, the world will become a different place, as we know it. Shifting continents and environmental pressures would have changed animals, including meerkats; causing them to go through another phase of evolution in order to survive in the future.
According to Christopher Scotese, Africa would then collide with Europe and Asia, forming one giant landmass. Not only will the world change in geographical measures, global warming would result in even more extreme weather conditions. There will be sweltering hot and glacial cold temperatures in one single area. Many animals will go extinct if they do not adapt in time leaving the food chain disrupted and food sources scarce. Sea levels will be higher than before, some fresh water sources will disappear while some will form due to unpredictable weather changes of the future. By then, Suricata webbedvoeteaap would spread to parts of Europe and Asia and undergo many other adaptations.
The Suricata webbedvoeteaap will continue to live in the dessert environment and also in densely vegetated grasslands of Africa, South Europe and Asia where opportunities to catch prey are plentiful.
Adaptations
Structural 1: Able to swim in water
In the future, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will have longer but lighter and waterproof fur. Suricata webbedvoeteaap will need lighter fur because of the hot temperature but longer fur to keep warm in cold temperatures. Their fur will also be sleeker in order to be waterproof when catching prey in water. Along with waterproof fur, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will have webbed feet that will enable them to swim faster and catch prey.
An environmental pressure that has caused this change in meerkats is the extreme range in temperatures in a 150 million years time. They must be accustomed to both hot and cold temperatures and in water. Due to the disruption in the food chain, Suricata webbedvoeteaap must prey on a wider selection of animals in order to survive. Fish and other organisms living in water will become part the Suricata webbedvoeteaaps’ diet, so their fur must be suitable for swimming and drying quickly.
Structural 2: able to see in the dark
Because of the need to prey on much more types of prey, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will need to hunt during the day and night. To do so, they would have acquired a special structural adaptation to be able to see in the dark. Their eyes will be equipped with some sort of night vision that will be required during hunting.
As previously mentioned, the food chain will be disrupted so meerkats will have to eat a wider variety of foods. This may lead them to hunt during the night in order to prevent the Suricata webbedvoeteaap group from becoming famished, resulting in death from starvation. Better night vision will enable Suricata webbedvoeteaap to see in the dark and have the opportunity to find food to survive.
Behavioural 1: nomadic
Instead of living in the same area for many generations, Suricata webbedvoeteaap will move across vast areas of land frequently, probably as frequent as every few days. The group will not dig series of burrow systems; instead, they will make nests out of plants that can be found in their habitat or make use of caves. These nests or caves will serve as shelter for the Suricata webbedvoeteaap clan for as long as they are in that area. This sort of behaviour will be somewhat similar to modern day elephants.
What will be the cause for meerkats to move from burrows to nests and caves? The reason will be that in the future, fresh water and food supplies can become unreliable and as mammals, source of fresh water is very important to them. To ensure survival, Suricata webbedvoeteaap must move to wherever there is food and fresh water. Becoming nomadic mammals will increase chances of survival.
Behavioural 2: All beta females allowed to breed
Beta female Suricata webbedvoeteaap are allowed to breed. In comparison to meerkat hierarchy, only the alpha female is allowed to breed. The alpha female will evict any beta female who falls pregnant. This is not so in the case of Suricata webbedvoeteaap because evicted meerkats will have a lower chance of surviving alone in harsh conditions of the future world. Naturally, if beta females are allowed to breed, the group size will increase which will provide higher protection against predators.
Physiological:
In the future, fresh water may be hard to come by. There will no annual wet season due to the extreme change in climate in the future. That is why the Suricata webbedvoeteaap excretes waste in some other form of waste. It is similar to modern day reptiles and birds, which excrete in the form of uric acid, which will not cause them to lose as much water. Although, they will need to drink water where possible at some point, this form of physiological adaptation can keep these mammals go longer without water.
Bibliography